The Bank of England after a six weeks nomination process with the public which finished on the 14th of December has selected 991 candidates who are eligible from over 227,229 nominations. The good news is that Mary Seacole is on this list.
Please see the list below https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/banknotes/50-character-selection.pdf?la=en&hash=2E2BED00EFA8101980140544DD1BA325E8DF2253
Just doing quick scan of the 991 eligible nominees please see the following of BME background:
Bawa Kartar Singh
Charles Kuen Kao
Homi Jehangir Bhabha
Srinivasa Ramanujan
A proper analysis will be done in the New Year unless someone has time over the festive period to do this!!!
Please find below members of the Banknote Character Advisory Committee that will make recommendations to Mark Carney the Governor of the bank:
Ben Broadbent: Chairman
Ben is the Bank of England’s Deputy Governor for Monetary Policy. He has responsibility for monetary analysis and banknotes.
Sarah John
Sarah is the Bank of England’s Chief Cashier and Director of Notes. She leads the teams responsible for every aspect of banknotes, from design to distribution and destruction.
Professor Sir David Cannadine
David is a British historian and author who specialises in the political, social, and cultural history of modern Britain and its empire, and the study of history over time. He is currently teaching at Princeton University and is also the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography’s General Editor. He has previously been a member of the Royal Mint Advisory Committee and chair of the Blue Plaques Panel.
Sandy Nairne
Sandy was Director of the National Portrait Gallery from 2002 to early 2015. He was previously Director of Programmes at Tate, and has also worked at the Arts Council of Great Britain, the Institute of Contemporary Arts, and the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford (now Modern Art Oxford). Sandy has previously worked as a curator and writer. He is Chair of the board of the Clore Leadership Programme, and Chairman of the Fabric Advisory Committee of St Paul’s Cathedral.
Baroness Lola Young
Baroness Young began her career in theatre and television, before becoming a writer, cultural critic, public speaker and broadcaster. She was formerly a professor of cultural studies, and Head of Culture at the Greater London Authority. She became an independent member of the House of Lords in 2004. She has sat on the boards of the South Bank Centre, the Royal National Theatre, the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts and The National Archives and been a trustee of Somerset House and Commissioner for English Heritage.
The four independent members of the committee helping to choose a scientist to appear on the new £50 note are: Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Dr Emily Grossman, Professor Simon Schaffer and Dr Simon Singh.
Either way the level of representation is still very low in terms of the long list thus the joint campaign #BanknoteOfColour with Zehra Zaidi is still important especially as the bank have delayed the decision till the summer of 2019.
Please sign the petition so we can put additional pressure on the bank. Also use social media promote the campaign.
https://www.change.org/p/time-for-1st-ever-banknoteofcolour
Thanks very for your support so far in raising Mary Seacole profile to be considered on the next £50 note. We also need to ensure that we representation on a future bank note which reflects 21st Century Britain.
I hope you have a great festive period and look forward to your support in 2019
Best Wishes
Patrick Vernon OBE.